Isolation of yeasts from bovine milk in Belgium.

A total of 436 milk samples from non-infected and 80 from infected quarters were investigated : 24.5% of the samples collected from non-infected and 55% of those collected from infected quarters were positive.

Normal milk yielded not less than 16 different species and among them many potentially pathogenic yeast species such as C. parapsilosis, C. guilliermondii, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata and T. asahii, all five able to grow at 40°C. In contrast, the yeasts isolated from infected quarters were from 3 species : C. kefyr, C. catenulata and C. lambica, which were also among the yeasts species recovered from normal milk.

Among the three species, only one i.e. Candida kefyr is able to grow above 40°C and from there can be considered as potentially pathogenic, even if bacterial association is necessary to cause mastitis.